


Soldier On

by PurpleArrowzandLeather



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Injured Steve Rogers, quick resolve, what's a plot?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 11:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18849802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleArrowzandLeather/pseuds/PurpleArrowzandLeather
Summary: Steve Rogers is hit with something in a Hydra base and the team rushes to find a cure.





	Soldier On

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing.

          It’s the middle of an op when everything goes wrong. It was supposed to be simple, really. The Avengers were meant to go in, sweep the building for HYDRA and then blow it up.  

          Nothing should have happened. 

          Tony was moving through the lower wings with Steve and Bucky, the three of them working smoothly despite Tony’s feelings on Bucky. The jury is still out on whether or not they’ll ever get along, but so far so good. Steve turns around as he hears something moving around behind them. He puts his hand up to signal the other two, but Tony keeps moving. Bucky taps his shoulder. 

          Steve sucks in a sharp breath as something pricks his neck and he pulls away a slim dart. He doesn’t feel dizzy at all, so it can’t be a sedative, but his breathing becomes far more difficult. Bucky puts a hand on his shoulder as he rests his weight on the wall.  

          “Steve? You okay, pal?” 

          Steve blinks, shaking his head. “I don’t- I don’t feel quite right.” 

          Bucky stills when he starts coughing. “Steve, are you having an asthma attack?” 

          He sinks against the wall, his throat and lungs constricting painfully. He’d almost forgotten how this felt. Tony crouches next to him, looking a bit confused and maybe even out of his depth. 

          “Asthma? What are you talking about? Why would he be-” 

          Steve fumbles to hand the dart to Bucky, his other hand moving to his chest as he desperately tries to catch his breath. Bucky gives it to Tony, focusing on getting Steve settled enough to breathe easier.  

          “Whatever is in that must have counteracted the effects of the serum.” 

          “Then why isn’t he tiny?” 

          Bucky glares. “His body is still in fighting shape because he’s been using it as if he was able to be. It’s not like the stuff reversed time. Aren’t you supposed to be a genius?” 

          “Right. Sorry, I just-” 

          Steve tilts his head back, closing his eyes as he struggles. Tony tries to figure out something to help while Bucky assists him the only way he remembers how. Tony radios in to the rest of the team, excluding Bruce, who are on the upper floors rooting around for files. Natasha and Clint’s movements come to a halt when they hear that Steve is having an asthma attack.  

           “Tony, we have to fix this fast.” 

          “I know, I know. I’m working on it.” 

          Bucky shakes his head, easing Steve forwards a little as he starts to calm. Steve grips his forearm hard enough to leave bruises, swearing under his breath. Tony looks scandalized at the colorful language leaving his mouth, but he doesn’t question it.  

          The team agrees to meet out in the front of the building, Clint and Natasha rushing to locate Steve’s attacker. Any guy who has something that can debilitate Cap is very, very bad. 

          Tony pauses for a moment. “Wait a second. If he recovers now, why can’t we take all the time we need after we’re safely back at the Tower?” 

          “That’s what I was trying to tell you. Steve was pretty much a dead man walking back in the day. Anything he touched got him sick. We need to be careful.” 

          “Okay, but you said that the stuff in the dart didn’t take away his physical attributes. Why are his lungs acting like this if they’ve been healthy for the last seventy years?” 

          Bucky hums a little, trying to come up with something. “They must’ve targeted something specific. Probably soft tissues.” 

          “They can do that?” 

          “They’re HYDRA, and the evidence is sitting right in front of you. What do you think?” 

          Steve pats his shoulder, coming back around and looking better. “It’s... it’s all right, Buck. You don’t have to be snippy. Tony is only trying to... to help.” 

          Bucky helps him off the ground and Steve lets out a familiar rasp of a wheeze. Bucky always hated that sound, and it only makes him angry to hear it now. “So help me, Steve, if you die because you pick up some disease in the two seconds that your immune system is going to be down, I will kill you.” 

          “Duly noted.” 

          Tony gets under his other arm even though Steve claims he can walk just fine and that he’s not physically hurt. Neither of them pay him any mind, simply carting him back to the front of the building as fast as possible. They have to slow down once or twice because they get moving too quickly for Steve’s recently ruined lungs.  

          Tony may or may not be realizing just how poorly Steve was doing before the serum and he can understand why he’s so defensive about Project Rebirth.  

          Bucky pauses in the last turn before the doorway. “I just had a thought.” 

          “What?” 

          “I mean, what if it’s not even attacking the serum? What if it was just his respiratory system in general?” 

          Tony looks to Steve. The man in question shrugs as well as possible and Tony starts moving for the doors again. “Steve first. Hypothesize later.” 

          “Agreed.” 

          It’s all a rush back to the quinjet as they attempt to keep Steve from breathing improperly while they’re on the move. Jarvis is keeping Tony updated on Steve’s condition, and it’s definitely not getting any better.  

          “Okay, Barnes. Gimmie your ideas.” 

          Bucky sits down next to Steve and he leans into Bucky’s shoulder, curling up in a way that makes him seem tiny. “M’ getting' a little chilly, Tones. Don’t know what’s... don’t know what’s wrong.” 

          Tony shakes his head, reaching into Bruce’s stockpile of blankets and handing a pair of them over. “J says that you aren’t getting enough oxygen, which means your blood is thicker. Your blood pressure is up, but without your previous lung capacity, homeostasis is going to be a-” 

          “English, Tony.” 

          “It’s gonna be difficult to get warm, pal.” Bucky murmurs, not liking how much this reminds him of Steve’s childhood.  

          Tony nods. “It’s only going to get more difficult to breathe, and until we figure out how to reverse it, there’s nothing we can do. If whatever they did was an attempt to get Steve to regress to pre-serum days, then his lungs won’t be able to support his body.” 

          “And if it wasn’t?” 

          With a heavy sigh, Tony lifts a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Then it’s probably degenerative, and with that progressive. If I’m doing my math right, and I always am, he’s got a few days maximum. If we put him on a respirator right away, maybe longer.” 

          Bucky scowls at him. “You sound like every doc in the 30s and 40s.” 

          “What? You think I want that to happen? You think I want this to get worse?” 

          “Guys!” Steve pipes up, his voice louder than a whisper for the first time since he got hit. “That’s enough. You’ll... you’ll figure it out, but there’s no need to argue.” 

          It goes quiet in the cockpit while Tony gets the jet ready to fly, Clint and Nat rushing in only a minute or so after. “We’ve got the place wired to blow and we radioed in to the Tower so Bruce could get the infirmary ready.” 

          Clint crouches next to Steve and Bucky, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder while Nat fills Tony in. “How’re you feeling?” 

          Steve offers him a weak smile. “Well as I can be, considering.” 

          “Good. We’ll fix this, Cap.” 

          Jarvis is quiet as he continues to update Tony on Steve’s condition, but he’s certain the super-soldier can hear every word. As much as Howard talked about Steve, Tony never took the time to see just how many medical issues Steve had pre-serum. He has every rant on the perks from the serum memorized. He pulls up Steve’s medical information from before Project Rebirth. It’s highly classified. Or it was before SHIELD’s files ended up all over the internet.  

          By rights, Steve shouldn’t have even made it into his twenties.  

          “Sir, Mr. Rogers is losing consciousness.” 

          “Is that bad?” 

          “For now, the condition is harmless.” 

          Tony isn’t comforted by the knowledge that it’s only harmless “for now”. It means that soon enough it won’t be, and then they’ll have a real problem. Tony glances back at Bucky, feeling uneasy as he sees the expression on his face. He has a feeling that some of Barnes’ worst memories from before the war are about trying to keep Steve alive. 

          Giving himself a shake, Tony calls the Tower to talk to Bruce. “Hey, buddy. You there?” 

          “ _Mr. Stark?"_  

          Tony blinks. “Peter? What are you doing answering Bruce’s phone?” 

          “ _Well, I came to ask him for help with my science project, but then he had to go get the infirmary ready. He left his phone, and I just_ _kinda_ _-_ ” 

          “I’m gonna stop you there. Head down to the infirmary, will you?” 

          “ _Okay, Mr. Stark, sir._ ” 

          Tony can’t help but smile a bit. Peter chatters the whole way down to the infirmary, talking about his day at school and even what his science project is about. If the situation weren’t so urgent, Tony could likely listen to him talk all day without complaints. Tony would deny thinking it, but he’s just the most adorable kid. If May wasn’t his legal guardian, Tony would consider adopting him. 

          “ _Okay, Mr. Stark. I found Bruce. He says he’s ready_.” 

          “That’s great, kid. Can I talk to him or is he busy?” 

          “ _He’s good. Here you go_.” 

           Bruce laughs a little bit on the other side and Tony can imagine the look on Peter’s face. He adores Bruce more than he’d ever say, and Tony would be jealous if the kid didn’t love him so much already. All the Avengers have a soft spot for Peter. 

          “ _Tony. What’s the news so far_?” 

          “Cap is out right now. I don’t know if Clint and Nat filled you in or if they were very specific, but basically...” He glances back at the team. “His respiratory system is shutting down. He just passed out a bit ago.” 

          “ _How long does he have?_ ” 

          “A few days. Max.” 

          Bruce sighs, his nose-pinching almost audible from the other side. “ _Get him here. We’ll see what we can do_.” 

          “That’s the plan.” 

          Bruce clatters around, talking to Peter as he sets up for a more specific problem. Tony can only hope that this particular issue progresses far slower than his calculations suggest. This is one of the only times that Tony well and truly hates his brain. _Like, yes, I want to know how long we have to solve the problem, but no, I don’t want to know exactly when my friend is going to die_. 

          “ _I assume that Steve’s metabolism put it into effect right away_?” 

          “Yeah. It hit him hard and fast. Took all of a few seconds for him to have an asthma attack, or what seemed like one.” 

          “ _Do we know who did it_?” 

          “Clint and Nat found the guy who shot him with the dart, and I’m pretty sure he’s dead. They got some spare samples, so we have plenty to test with. Jarvis is monitoring Steve, but that’s all he can do until we get this stuff running in a lab.” 

          “ _Pete, stop climbing on the MRI. I need you to... yeah, just right there.”_   

          “Bruce.” 

          “ _Yeah, Tony. I got it. We’re getting the mass spectrometer ready right now.”_  

          “Good. We’ll be there in about an hour. Jarvis will keep you updated.” 

          “ _Okay, Tony. I’ll see you guys.”_  

          Tony hangs up, shaking his head at himself. When they get ahold of the cure for this, some HYDRA goons are going to be wishing that they’d never been born. Sure, Tony and Steve have had their differences, but they’ve worked out the majority of them safely (mostly). Their biggest issue has been Bucky, but right at the moment, they’re more concerned with helping Steve than avoiding each other.  

          Technically, it  _is_ an improvement. 

           

          Upon arrival at the Tower, they settle Steve into an infirmary bed. He doesn’t offer any protest even when they put him on an IV and oxygen. He just kind of lays there shivering. 

          Bucky and Tony stand outside his room, watching with careful eyes. Tony has his arms crossed, one hand up near his jaw as he thinks.  

          “Why is he so still?” 

          “He’s freezing. If he moves, the new spot will be cold.” Bucky mumbles, gritting his teeth a little as he tries to avoid getting heard by Steve. 

          Tony rubs at his eyes. “How did he even survive the 1940s?” 

          “Me. I’d lay down next to him to keep him as warm as possible, and he’d still be cold, but he’d survive the night. After his mom died, he cut down on the heating bill so he could get by. Nobody’d hire him ‘cept for part time because of his medical issues, and he’d stretch the pay as far as he could. He was determined to make it on his own, but I would be there.” 

          Tony thinks back to the picture attached to Steve’s files which is of him before the serum. Suddenly, Steve’s ideals become frighteningly clear. He doesn’t necessarily agree with all of them, but he can see where the guy is coming from. 

          “He’d pick a fight with anything that moved, but he’d bruise so easily it looked like he went ten rounds instead of one.” 

          With a look at Bucky, Tony can see that he’s stuck in the past. He doesn’t need to ask why Steve would fight instead of run. He knows him well enough to understand that much, at least.  

          Tony turns to walk away and Bucky asks him where he’s going. “To get a heated blanket.” 

          Bucky offers him a pained smile, bobbing his head as Tony heads off. “Tony.” 

          “Yeah?” 

          _I trust you_. That’s what he meant to say. “Save him. I know you can.” 

          Tony reads between the lines just enough to know what he’s getting at and continues on his way. “I will.” he says to himself. _Today is not the day that we lose Captain America, and I’m not about to let Steve Rogers go down either._  

           

          It takes them two days to find a cure. Jarvis has been working around the clock and Tony hasn’t slept at all. Clint and Natasha went back to the destroyed base to see if they could find any leftover information, but they came up dry. Peter went in with Steve to keep him company and Bucky generally sat in the room in stony silence while the kid chattered. 

          “Sir.” 

          Tony rolls over, groaning as his hair mushes into a grease puddle. He’s been tinkering to clear his head. “What now, J?” 

          “The solution to Captain Rogers’ ailment has been synthesized.” 

          Tony bolts to his feet. “Is it permanent? This won’t be able to happen again?” 

          “All tests on the Captain’s blood have reacted as such to a second exposure. There have been no adverse effects and all functions have held steady.” 

          “Great. Now or never. Update on Rogers?” 

         “Sleeping. His body temperature is low, though Mr. Parker along with the heated blanket are keeping it relatively stable.” 

          Tony retrieves the cure, heading up to wake Bucky, since it’s only three in the morning. Soon enough, the whole team is by his side and they go down to the infirmary. Peter wakes up when they come in and he smiles broadly.  

          “Mr. Stark? What’s going on?” 

          “We’ve got the cure, kiddo.” 

          Peter sits up, shaking Steve. The super-soldier sucks in a wheezy breath, his face mask fogging up. “Y-yeah? What’s... what’s up, Pete?” 

          “Open your eyes, Mr. Rogers, come on. Tony’s got the cure!” 

          Steve opens up one eye just a crack, his face scrunching as his pounding headache returns. He manages a weak smile towards the team and his eye catches the needle in Tony’s hand. “Let’s get this over with, huh?” 

          Tony nears with the cure, snagging Steve’s IV line. “You’re sure about this?” 

          “If you say it’ll work, then... then it’ll work. I trust you, Tony.” 

          Tony can’t help but wish that Pepper was around to record him saying that. He loves that woman, but she wouldn’t dare give him good blackmail material. She takes the fun out of everything, but she manages his life, so it’s not like he can argue. 

          Bruce comes closer to instruct Tony, but he can tell that Tony wants to be the one to do it. He worked too long and hard not to be the one to administer it. He also doesn’t want it to be anyone else’s fault should it fail. 

          It takes a few moments to kick in, but Steve does start breathing easier. Peter pokes at him from his spot on the bed. “Mr. Steve? Do you feel better?” 

          Steve grabs his prodding hand. “Sure thing, kid. Thanks for keeping me company.” 

          Peter stands up in his usual manner, hopping on the side of the bed a couple times before jumping down. Tony wraps his arm around the kid’s shoulders, smiling as they watch Steve’s condition improve slowly. Jarvis informs them that his blood pressure is lowering and that they may remove the oxygen mask.  

          Steve sighs, tilting his head back against the pillows. A quiet (relieved) swear leaves his mouth. “The headache is going away.” 

          “That was your main issue? The headaches?” Tony asks, a bit curious. 

          “Back in Brooklyn, the breathing problem I could usually deal with. Not being able to think clearly is what would keep me down, and sometimes I’d black out.” 

          His expression is almost euphoric.  

          Tony pats his shoulder. “This isn’t happening again Steve. Jarvis and I made sure of that.” 

          Steve closes his eyes, just focusing mostly on breathing. “Thank you, Tony. I think I’m just... just gonna take a nap now.” He’s almost out when he comes back around, eyes searching for Bucky. “Jerk.” 

          Bucky smirks, approaching the bed and looking a little smug. “Punk.” 

          Tony laughs. “Yeah, you two are disgusting with your best friend bromance here. Get some sleep, old man.” 

          “You know what, Stark?” Steve answers, a sly grin on his face. 

          “Oh, I know.” 

          Steve hums, leaning back again. “Yeah, I’ll bet you do. I'll get you back for the old man comment, but..." he sighs. " _Later."_

          He falls asleep very suddenly and Tony turns to his sedative drip where Bruce is lurking just a bit too innocently. 

          "What? He wouldn't go to sleep."

          For the first time in a couple days, The Avengers share a laugh while they watch over their captain. He'll recover. Tony will make sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit rushed, but it has been awhile since I've written anything Marvel.


End file.
